The Crew of the Ship Earth

In honor of Earth Day 2017, we bring you this small pamphlet, written and designed by W. A. Dwiggins nearly seventy-five years ago, and published by the Typophiles in 1943. The context for this piece was World War II. Influenced by his Quaker background, Dwiggins created, on more than one occasion, vivid work that advocated for an end to aggression and violence. The message of The Crew of the Ship Earth still resonates today, and it seems appropriate to look again at this tiny pamphlet and appreciate its powerful vision: “… an entirely new mental picture of the world’s population: a picture of all of us together sharing the same needs, the same dangers, the same fate … the same hope … .

This booklet, along with 1200 other illustrations, appears in W. A. Dwiggins: A Life in Design. Preorder the book on Kickstarter until April 28 and help us reach our stretch goal to digitize and share more hi-fi Dwiggins imagery like this.